Making Clarke County green: New sustainability committee steps in

In 2023, members of the Clarke County School District community presented a renewable energy solution to the board of education. The resolution called for CCSD to be more involved in sustainability and to have clean energy sources by 2035. This presentation eventually led to the creation of the new Sustainability Committee. 

Ramsey Nix, a CCSD parent and member of the committee, has been a longtime advocate for sustainability.  

“Last spring (I was) showing up at every Board of Education meeting and saying ‘We need to do something,’” Nix said. “I thought we needed a resolution but then the BOE members had an even better idea: a sustainability advisory committee.” 

Committee member and East side parent Erwin Greene has been vocal about clean energy in the community. He serves on the Community Oversight Committee for CCSD, which helps to manage other CCSD committees, and has consistently asked about more environmentally friendly buses.

Nix and Greene have since become the Sustainability Committee co-chairs. Following their first meeting on Jan. 9, they held four more assemblies, most recently on April 9. The committee is set to operate until January of 2025.  

Greene sees an upside to the limited timeframe.

“We’re not going to have the opportunity or the excuse to be able to drag this out. We have a timeline. We have a deadline and we have to hit it,” Greene said. 

BOE member Dr. Patricia Yager (District 4) is one of three members serving on the Sustainability Committee. Her work with the Georgia Climate Project, a group that works to better understand the effects of climate change, encouraged her to take further green action. She has been involved with the Sustainability Committee since the clean and renewable energy resolution was delivered to the BOE. 

In the fall of 2023, students at Clarke Middle School began to ask for solar panels on their new buildings. The Georgia Climate Project became involved in the creation of the Sustainability Committee because of their proposal for electric buses. These factors as well as influence from other school districts inspired the creation of the Sustainability Committee. 

Because of the wide variety of topics they would be dealing with, the committee decided to divide into four subcommittees: energy/heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), transportation, green infrastructure and extramural funding and cost sharing.    

The energy and HVAC subcommittee set eight goals including completing an energy audit of the district. Recently approved by the BOE, the evaluation would determine how much and where energy is being used in each building. A detailed inspection is important to the committee because it allows them to figure out where CCSD needs to cut back on energy and decide the best way to accomplish that. 

The transportation subcommittee has seven goals including transitioning to electric buses and making walking or biking to schools more accessible. During the March 9 meeting, the subcommittee established that they aim to increase the number of students walking and biking to school by 15%.

“Some of the elementary schools in particular don’t have very good sidewalks and don’t have very good bike lanes, so kids’ ability to get to school is limited,” Yager said.

The green infrastructure subcommittee has six goals, including reducing heat islands. These are warmer areas than the environment surrounding them, typically due to larger populations and accompanying infrastructure such as asphalt.

Clarke Middle School teacher Audrey Hughes chairs the energy and HVAC sub-committee. Her work as a science teacher and her role as the head of the Science Energy and Adventure Team has given her years of experience addressing environmental issues.

“We’re doing this for children who said they want to have buildings that will last: buildings that are healthy, buildings that don’t leave a huge carbon footprint. Something for them to be proud of and say, ‘I helped make a positive difference for the planet and the kids that come after me,’” Hughes said.  

Cedar Shoals junior Zebulon Santos serves on the green infrastructure subcommittee. He learned about this group through his Athens Community Career Academy teacher Dr. Christina Hylton. Santos believes that it is crucial for young people to be involved in sustainability.     

“We’re the next generation, so if we start learning now, we’ll be wiser and have more knowledge by the time we’re able to give it to the next generation,” Santos said. 

Yager says the committee’s goals go beyond just the climate.     

“It’s not just about carbon. It’s about health and saving money for the district and also equity and education,” Yager said.

Though there have been individual and school level efforts, this committee is the first countywide organized effort made by CCSD to address sustainability and climate. 

“There hasn’t been a concerted, organized effort and no data is being collected right now. I think the trick is, especially if we want to get grants to do this work, to be measurable. We need to measure the impact of the activity,” Yager said.

Yager expressed her excitement about the Sustainability Committee’s work as well as the individuals contributing to it. 

“I’m really excited that the district is open to these recommendations and has been very cooperative and very excited to work with us,” Yager said. “We’re doing it with an equity lens, which has not been done by most of the climate change activists out there. They just haven’t thought about that part of the story.”

Even with their ambitious goals, the group remains committed to making the most of their one-year timeline.      

“The importance of the committee is saying to our students and Athenian population, ‘Sustainability does matter.’ We all share a planet. Athens-Clarke County is the smallest county by landmass in the state so we’ve got to start addressing sustainability with every business and with every home,” Hughes said.